Slow cooker beef and broccoli

This month has been perfect slow cooker weather, so I decided to give this beef and broccoli recipe a try. I ended up making this in two stages, because I didn’t start cooking until dinner time one evening. So I cooked the beef for four hours (step one) and then put the whole ceramic dish in the refrigerator overnight. This worked well because I was able to remove a lot of the fat that had solidified overnight before reheating the beef and adding the broccoli. Unfortunately going from fridge to table took longer than the additional 30 minutes in step three. I cooked it for about another hour and unfortunately the broccoli was still pretty frozen. 

I used stew meat for the beef, and since I like my dishes veg-heavy I used the whole bag of broccoli, This may have thinned the sauce a bit more than would be desired, so I probably would decrease the broth a bit for next time.

Dinner is served!

Slow cooker beef and broccoli
Serves: 4-6
Source: adapted from Table for Two via Pinterest

Ingredients
1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, cut into thin strips
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup tamari
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup sauce (from the crockpot after step 1)
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 pound frozen broccoli florets (or about 4 cups fresh)
White or brown rice, cooked, for serving

Directions
1. In the insert of a crockpot, whisk together beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic. Add slices of beef and toss to coat. Cook on low for 4 hours.

2. When done, remove 4 Tablespoons of sauce from the crockpot and, in a small bowl, whisk sauce together with cornstarch. Pour mixture back into crockpot and stir to mix well.

3. Add broccoli florets and cook on low for additional 30 minutes to cook/heat broccoli and thicken the sauce.